Top 5 Powers Spider-Man Lost

Spider-Man is one of Marvel’s biggest characters. Honestly, he is their biggest, and the competition isn’t close, even with the Marvel Cinematic Universe bumping some of his friends up in the running. Spidey is popular in just about every form of media that there is, and while a huge part of that obviously speaks to his character, supporting cast, and interesting stories, there’s no denying that his powers have a horse in that race. Spider-Man’s powers are, at their core, pretty simple and easy to imagine. He’s strong, agile, can stick to things, and can sense danger when it’s on top of him. Easy yet awesome to imagine.

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Yet, while Spider-Man’s core powerset has remained over the years, that’s not to say that they’re the same as when he started. In fact, Spider-Man has developed plenty of powers over the years that he’s lost or let go of, and today, we’re here to talk about those. We’ll be looking at five superpowers that Spider-Man used to have, but doesn’t anymore, for one reason or another. Peter can do anything that a spider can do, but with these abilities, he could also do a whole lot more. Without further ado, let’s talk about the powers that Spider-Man lost.

5) Organic Webbing

Around the time the first Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie hit theaters, Marvel wanted to make sure that their Peter resembled his on-screen counterpart. So, Spider-Man underwent a mystic transformation that connected him to his Animal Totem heritage and gave him a whole new slew of powers. The biggest of which, of course, was his organic webbing. Spider-Man usually has to worry about his web-shooters running out, but with this, he could make as much webbing as he wanted, whenever he wanted. Unfortunately for Spider-Man’s web budget, he lost this power with “Brand New Day,” and since he no longer hosts the Other, he can’t gain it again this way.

4) Enhanced Spider-Sense

Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense is his most versatile ability, but it was pushed beyond what even he can handle. Ty Stone tried to jam Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense, but inadvertently wound up enhancing it, enabling Peter to detect every potential danger, no matter how small. It would jolt him for every possible shock or papercut imaginable, to the point where it completely overwhelmed him. Spider-Man could see and feel everything around him, to the point where he could practically see time itself unravel around him, but that information was way too much. Thankfully, this was only temporary.

3) Radio Signal Detection

Speaking of the Spider-Sense, did you know that it used to let Peter detect, listen to, and trace radio signals? This was back in the very earliest Spider-Man adventures, before Stan Lee and Steve Ditko had hammered out all the kinks with Spidey’s powers. They didn’t know what they wanted him to be capable of, so they tried things until it stuck or fell off. This was one of those ideas that never managed to stick, as it only showed up a couple of times before vanishing from the page. Still, its impact can still be felt today, as Peter’s Spider-Tracers were originally just radios that sent out a specific signal for him to track.

2) Captain Universe Powers

The Enigma Force is a living energy that travels the universe, empowering those who need it to face threats to all life. It once chose Spider-Man as a host, transforming our Friendly Neighborhood hero into Captain Universe. This power made Spider-Man virtually unstoppable, and he used it to protect New York for a brief but impactful time. Heck, if you need an example, Captain Spider-Man was able to launch the Hulk into orbit with just a single blow. He went up against threats like the Tri-Sentinel and Magneto, all without breaking a sweat. This is easily Spider-Man’s strongest power-up.

1) Magic

Believe it or not, there was a very brief time that Spider-Man was every bit the wizard that Doctor Strange was. At least, his body was. Back when Spider-Man still had the symbiote, they got stuck in an altered reality, where the only way home was to master magic and restore the world to how it was supposed to be. The symbiote placed Peter into a deep sleep while it studied under Doctor Strange for an entire year. Heck, Spider-Man even reconnected with his magical roots again in the “8 Deaths of Spider-Man” story arc, where Doctor Doom and Doctor Strange imparted magical might to help Spidey stop an invasion of Earth. Overall, it seems like Spider-Man has a talent for the arcane.

Which of Spider-Man’s power-ups would you love to see make a return? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!